1. Module 3A: Unit 1: Lesson 11
Introducing Poetry

2. Agenda Opening Work Time Closing and Assessment Homework
Entry Task: My Independent Reading Plan (2 minutes)
Work Time
Independent Reading Check-in (15 minutes)
Introducing Poetry (8 minutes)
Closing and Assessment
Modeling Homework (5 minutes)
Homework
Revise your Found Poem from Lesson 10 to include two or more poetic tools. Break the poem up into stanzas. Challenge yourself to add a sound tool.
Continue reading your independent reading book

3. Materials Independent reading book (one per student)
Entry Task: My Independent Reading Plan (one per student)
Quotes on poetry (one to display)
Document camera
Equity sticks
Poet’s Toolbox anchor chart (new; teacher created)
Poet’s Toolbox reference sheet (one per student)
Lines from “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay (one to display)
Model Found Poem Draft 2 (one to display)

4. Lesson Vocabulary Craftsmanship Figurative language Vivid words Mad
Literal
Ambiguous
Stanzas

5. Opening: Entry Task: My Independent Reading Plan (2 minutes)
Take out your Independent reading book
Distribute one copy of Entry Task: My Independent Reading Plan

6. Work Time: Independent Reading Check-in (15 minutes)
Use your independent reading book to answer the questions on the Entry Task:
My Independent Reading Plan
If you finish early, you may read your independent reading book
Collect the entry tasks to be reviewed
Review the routines that will guide independent reading and the class check-ins
Be clear about what is the same as Module 2 and what is changing

7. Work Time: Introducing Poetry (8 minutes)
For the next couple of lessons, you will be studying a different kind of powerful, enduring story—the stories that poets tell
Read the first quote aloud
Quote 1:
“What is poetry? And why has it been around so long? … When you really feel it, a new part of you happens, or an old part is renewed, with surprise and delight at being what it is.” —James Dickey
Silently think about why poetry is an enduring art form
Why is it powerful?
Share out

8. Work Time Continued… Read the second quote aloud Quote 2:
“Part of the spell of poetry is the rhythm of language, used by poets who understand how powerful a factor rhythm can be, how compelling and unforgettable. Almost anything put into rhyme is more memorable than the same thing in prose. Why this is, no one knows completely, though the answer is surely rooted far down in the biology by means of which we exist; in the circulation of the blood that goes forth from the heart and comes back, and in the repetition of breathing.” — James Dickey
Think about a rhyming poem or song lyrics you know
Rhyme and rhythm can make a string of words become more powerful and enduring

9. Work Time Continued… Direct attention to the posted learning targets:
I can select an appropriate independent reading book and create an effective plan for completing it.
I can analyze the impact of rhymes and repetitions of sound on a specific section of poetry.
I can identify common poetic devices, especially those that have to do with structure, figurative language, and repetition.
Pay particular attention to the second one:
“I can analyze the impact of rhymes and repetitions of sound on a specific section of poetry.”

10. Work Time Continued…
You will think specifically about the way sound creates meaning in poems
In addition, the poems you read over the next couple of classes will deepen your understanding of Frederick Douglass and the issues of slavery, oppression, and freedom
The poems have heavy and important content, but you will see and understand how an author uses craft to reinforce the heavy content and create a truly powerful, enduring piece of literature

11. Work Time: Introducing the Poet’s Toolbox Anchor Chart (15 minutes)
Just as you sometimes read books to be entertained, poems can be read simply to be enjoyed as well
The poems you may be familiar with—like nursery rhymes or song lyrics— are very enjoyable
However, because we are in a literature class, where we are learning not just the ‘what’ of a text but also the ‘how’ and the ‘why,’ we are going to read some poems over the next couple of classes to appreciate the craftsmanship of a poem

12. Work Time Continued… Define craftsmanship:
Detailed, beautiful work that has been done skillfully and for a purpose
Emphasize the word “skillfully” in this definition
A poet thinks deliberately about the choices he or she makes and, because a poem is generally shorter than another form of literature, they have to choose words or phrases that do something—like paint a mental picture, create a feeling, or help the reader think about a big idea

13. Work Time Continued…
Share out your Found Poem (from Lesson 10 homework)
Share how you chose the words from the passage
You have already begun to think like poets: you are choosing vivid words that create a feeling or capture an image
Distribute the Poet’s Toolbox reference sheet
Remember that you worked with a Rhetoric Toolbox in Module 2A

14. Work Time Continued…
When we think about craftsmanship, we often think of sewing or carpentry or sculpture— someone building something tangible with their hands
A poet also builds something, but the tools are sound, form, and words
Direct attention to the headings on the Poet’s Toolbox anchor chart
We call these words or phrases figurative language

15. Work Time Continued…
Read over the list on the Poet’s Toolbox reference sheet and star any terms with which you are familiar
Explain that just as a carpenter uses different tools to do different parts of the job, a poet uses figurative language, form, and sound to “do” different things in a poem
Direct attention to the Function column on the Poet’s Toolbox reference sheet

16. Work Time Continued…
Point out that, ultimately, you all have the same purpose—create meaning and create beauty
To illustrate the Poet’s Toolbox, display the lines from “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay
“For example, if I was writing a poem where I wanted you to visualize a dog, I might include a lot of sound in the poem that reminded you of the word ‘bark.’
Notice the word ‘bark’ ends with a ‘k’ sound.
Now listen to these Lines from ‘If We Must Die’ by Claude McKay.”

17. Work Time Continued… Briefly discuss these lines
“Did the author want you to picture fluffy, cuddly dogs surrounding ‘us’?”
“He says the dogs were barking, and he shows us they were barking by repeating the ‘k’ sound.
What words have the ‘k’ sound?”
“How is a barking dog more unsettling than a silent dog?”

18. Work Time Continued…
“What vivid words did he use?
“What are the two meanings of the word mad?
Why are both meanings effective in this case?”
“Why would ‘hungry’ dogs be scarier than just dogs?”
“So the author crafts this detailed and rich picture of these dogs
Later in the poem, he says the men we’re fighting are just like those dogs
Does that tell you something about those men and how the speaker feels toward them?

19. Work Time Continued…
Just as a carpenter can throw up four walls and a roof and call it a house, the poet could have said, ‘They are scary,’ but that wouldn’t have been as effective, enduring, or as powerful as describing being surrounded by a pack of barking, crazy, hungry dogs.”
Remember the difference between figurative and literal
Sometimes people get frustrated because the figurative meaning in a poem can be ambiguous:
Something that is unclear because it can be understood in more than one way—from the prefix ambi- meaning both, like ambivalent or ambidextrous

20. Work Time Continued… An example is the word “mad” in the poem above
It can be difficult to determine the meaning of a word like this, but it’s also an opportunity for students to develop a new intellectual skill
I will give you a process in Lesson 12 that will help you recognize the craftsmanship of a poem

21. Closing and Assessment: Modeling Homework (5 minutes)
I would like to see how familiar you are with the tools of a poet
Choose two or more of the tools from the Poet’s Toolbox and add them to your found poem from Lesson 10
Break your poems up into stanzas
Those function like paragraphs, in that each stanza centers on one idea but they all relate to the main idea of the poem

22. Closing and Assessment Continued…
The parts that have been added are in bold
There are examples of assonance, similes, vivid word choice, alliteration, and poetic inversion
You wanted to keep the feeling of the mother enduring hardships because she loved her son so you added similes that had that same feeling
You also added the sound tools because you liked the sound and rhythm that gave to your poem

23. Homework
Revise your Found Poem from Lesson 10 to include two or more poetic tools
Break the poem up into stanzas
Challenge yourself to add a sound tool
Continue reading your independent reading book